Diego Pavia Lights Up Kentucky in 45-17 Vanderbilt Victory

Kentucky entered the game short-handed in the secondary, with six defensive backs sidelined by injuries. Facing one of the best quarterbacks in the country, we knew it wasn’t a recipe for success, but WOOF.

Diego Pavia lit up the Kentucky defense in an uncharacteristic fashion. The Vanderbilt quarterback dropped bombs over the UK secondary, throwing for touchdowns of 56 and a career-long 71 yards, to propel the Commodores to a 45-17 win.

It’s the first Kentucky loss in Nashville since 2015. With the win, Vanderbilt has nine regular-season victories for the first time since 1915. Kentucky must win at Louisville to earn a bowl bid. The Cards played a backup quarterback in a 38-6 loss to SMU.

Diego Does It All

The Kentucky defense had no answers for Diego Pavia. Even though the Wildcats sacked him three times, it only briefly slowed him down.

Pavia warmed up by completing his first six passes. That’s when he started feeling comfortable enough to let it fly. He hit Tre Richardson in stride for a 71-yard touchdown. On the ensuing possession, Richardson caught a swing pass, which was ruled a run, for a 15-yard score.

The Dores went for a kill-shot by going for it on fourth and one deep in their own territory late in the first half. When it failed, Kentucky was able to kick a field goal. One minute was more than enough time for more Pavia magic.

The Vanderbilt quarterback threw a 56-yarder to Washington to make it 24-3 before halftime, and that was all she wrote. Pavia entered Heisman mode in the second half, padding his stats and building his resume with a couple more touchdowns, and one on the ground.

He set the single-game Vanderbilt passing record with 469 yards, the most by a quarterback against Kentucky since Peyton Manning. He completed 32-38 passes (84%) for four touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, and an interception. The pick by Ty Bryant was his fourth of the year, the most in the SEC.

Touchdown Commodores!!! pic.twitter.com/NSj30DpmGu

— #14 Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) November 22, 2025

Kentucky Offense Zipped Up

To have a fighting chance against this Top 15 team, Kentucky needed its offense to continue taking steps forward. They took one big step back against a defense that allowed 28.5 points per game over the last six contests.

Kentucky had 16 yards in its first four possessions and two three-and-outs. That gave the Dores enough leash to open up a 17-0 lead, one that felt insurmountable against this Vanderbilt offense. The Wildcats went three-and-out five times in the first nine possessions.

Cutter Boley had injected life into the Kentucky offense. The Cats were playing as well as we’d seen in years. He took a hard hit that briefly sidelined him in the second quarter. Even before that, this group fell flat on its face in a big moment, mustering only 31 yards on the ground. Boley finished 26-44 for 280 yards and a pair of late touchdown passes.

It was an all-systems failure against the Commodores. The Cats proved to BBN earlier this season that they will not give up, no matter how dire the circumstances may be. That’s going to be put to the test once again in the final week of the 2025 season.

Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt Box Score

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